SCHOOLS across the Hambleton and York area battled it out in a ‘quick sticks’ tournament with Alne school emerging victorious.

Quick sticks is version of hockey more suited to younger players, using a slightly larger and lighter ball with fewer players and a smaller pitch.

Dozens of teams took part in the regional finals at Thirsk, including a team from Thirsk Community Primary School who won eight games in a row to win the town’s cluster schools final which saw 11 school teams pitted against each other.

The Thirsk Primary School team came fourth overall in the regional finals and a spokeswoman said everybody was proud of their achievement.

She added: “The children are doing really well in sport and they are winning things which makes them really happy.

“Quick sticks is a good introduction to hockey

Two teams from Thirsk Community Primary School took part in the Year 3/4 cluster quick sticks tournament on Thursday 9th March at Thirsk High School. Quick sticks is a game that is very similar to Hockey with the only changes being a slightly larger and lighter ball, fewer players and a smaller pitch. Both teams played incredibly well winning the majority of their matches. One of the teams was unlucky to miss out on a medal position, whereas the other team was undefeated throughout the morning -winning a staggering 8 games in a row to be declared as champions. This team will now progress to the area finals on Friday 17th March.